The NFL has decided to cancel all preseason games in 2020. Here are three early regular-season games the Pittsburgh Steelers could lose as a result.
We all know that the prettiest football isn’t played early in the NFL season. Offenses make careless mistakes with the football while defenses often look lost in their assignments. The Steelers are a prime example of this.
Since 2017, Pittsburgh has lost early games to teams like the Chicago Bears and Jacksonville Jaguars. They were also a T.J. Watt blocked field goal away from losing to the Browns in 2018. As a result, Pittsburgh has a record of just 6-8-1 in the first five weeks of the regular season dating back to 2017.
Recently, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network announced that the NFL has officially canceled the 2020 preseason. The Steelers start off slow as it is, so there is reason to believe that jumping right into the regular season could present even more troubles early on. Here are three early games the Steelers could lose due to a loss of preseason in 2020:
Week 1: Steelers @ Giants
This was a game I was already worried about prior to the loss of the 2020 preseason. Now it’s even more concerning to me. While the New York Giants are in the same boat as every other team in the league when it comes to no exhibition games, this will Ben Roethlisberger’s first game since suffering a severe elbow injury last September.
We have yet to see Roethlisberger throw more than a few passes at a time, and thrusting him into regular-season action may not be the best thing for him. This scenario gets even worse if the Steelers fall behind early, as Big Ben will be asked to do more with his arm.
Even if Roethlisberger proves to be fully healthy, he still has a history of getting off to slow starts. At 38 years old and missing almost all of the 2019 season, Steelers could end up dropping their first game against the New York Giants this year.